Started a bit of research for the web design brief today. Found some really awesome work that kind of puts everything I've done to shame and gives me that sicky feeling in my stomach (you probably experience this when you see art and design that you are totally in awe of) caused 20% by jealousy, 13% by inferiority, 17% by the realisation that you need to do alot to get to this level, and 50% by excitement and ideas (I think those percentages add up).
I'll start with the website of Johnny and Mickey Kelly because it's the one which- content wise (not necessarily the website design itself but the work shown and how this is well supported by the simple design) evoked aforementioned mixture of jealousy/inspiration.
This website is a perfect example of thoroughly simple design which serves its purpose of allowing people to access quickly the work of the Kelly brothers. It is merely a small white navigation bar on the left with a bright hued space filling the rest of the window where work appears when selected from the left bar. The type is a pretty standard sans serif and the whole thing looks pretty ordinary until you click on the navbar and their awesome stuff fills up the space. Johnny's diverse portfolio of work in particular, with his vibrantly coloured animations and illustrations which are a mixture of pencil drawings, 3d paper constructions and slick vector based stuff doesn't need any branding or sophisticated framing. It is allowed to speak for itself with the lack of these which communicates a sense of confidence and assuredness about it. In the 'about' page there is a neat little pdf available to download containing his illustration portfolio which is a nice idea as it means that the page itself isn't overloaded with too many links but instead has a few choice links to the best stuff which would stimulate the interest of the user who then probably looks at the other pages on the site and can then view further examples of the work if they wish.
(I've just read on the about page that the site was built with a web app called indexhibit so perhaps it is less 'designed' than I assumed, however it still serves the purpose, so I think it is worth a mention).
(Look at his animation work, it is sublime).
A more graphic site I looked at was that of Australian studio Hofstede. Their work is described as rational and intelligent (by themselves) and the design of the site echoes this in its very clean, gridded layout. Apart from being well put together, functional and appropriate there is nothing much to shout about with regard to this site. One really nice subtle feature they have incorporated though is the way that the folio page uses thumbnails of work which are dark and monochrome creating an initially dull, oppressive page. However, when these thumbs are clicked on and the folio page is returned to, their visited state is the same thumb but in vibrant colour which kind of creates a little visual incentive to click on more work and illuminate the page.
What I noticed with both sites -apart from their emphasis on simplicity and user-friendliness is that they both have a splash page which looks bare or mysterious creating a little moment of visual tension which motivates the user to resolve this by clicking one of the links displayed, the most prominent of which is usually the work.
This is also true of the site of David Foldvari, an illustrator who does really accomplished pieces at an obscenely prolific rate. When you visit the site you are confronted with a black and white multi-eyed monster centred with really tiny links below which creates an immediate impact and a quick insight into his persona as an illustrator with a quirky, dark and restrained style. The rest of the site is simply a collection of work set out in grids of thumbs.
The website of illustrator/designer Parra is similarly simple but his work is displayed in a wee gif which flicks through a selection of his work very quickly, which works well for a portfolio unified by his strong individual style.
It seems that sheer simplicity is the name of the game with regard to designing a portfolio site. Potential clients browsing your work don't want to have to waste time trying to navigate through clutter but at the same time the site should reflect your style and visual Identity, which is what I now have to begin working to define in order to start the ideas process.
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